It’s been A while from previous post, however there has been A lot of progress during that time. The crowdfunding campaign ended succesfully in december, budget is almost done missing about 20% of total. There has been also some castings for the roles.

This time was the first Iron Sky Universe shareholders meeting in Kellohalli Helsinki. There was some info about progress of the movie, budget, new concept art, future plans. I missed almost all the conversation because, well I took pictures. It’s quite interesting, when I take pics I’m so concentrated, that I only see my camera viewfinder. That is my whole world when I’m in shootings. So I don’t hear what people are talking about and if the backstage is on fire, I don’t see it Does anybody else have this problem during the shootings?

So here are few pics from shareholders’ meeting. Hope that I have some new pics to offer you soon…

Opening of first shareholders meeting.Appetizer, the numbers.Some numbers from Tero.Checklist.There were bunch of people.Jarmo had some news on website new sneakpeek features.Timo introducing some new concept art.Promising… :)After the meeting quests visited the new office.Some smiles.I have seen these props before.Joye managed to buy his first underground ticket.Some waiting on metro station.Joeys first underground ticket :)Underground travelling.Anniina and up she goes…Yep, selfie of the day.Something fun… :)

Ok, now it’s time to reveal the faces from shooting where we were at on November 28th 2014. Theme was to shoot a promo video to the ongoing crowdfunding campaign. Today, Iron Sky filmmakers have launched a brand new character trailer, introducing one of the 12 villains of the film – Jesus Christ – played by Jukka Hildén from the Finnish extreme stunts group The Dudesons.

Here are some pics from shootings, which I wasn’t allowed to publish before, not before the video had been released. So welcome to behind the scenes of Jesus Attack character trailer!

Take care and stay tuned, more is coming…

Jukka has arrivedFirst makeup with AriMakeup takes time and patienceYep, patience Jukka :)Ari is painting the whip marksTimo takes selfie with JukkaSome test shootings…Timo want’s some close up video from JukkaFinal check before shootingsLast one, the nailsAnd I’m ready…Yes, and I’m ready with my OLYMPUS

I’m not going to play tennis…I’m gonna SCREAM!!!And bleed… Ari adding some blood for next takeTimo is checking the result from screenLittle break and prop fixing…Timo is fixing the ropesJukka is angry and shatters the cross which I just fixedTake two…Ready…Steady…And…SCREAM!!!Broken again, now it’s my turn to fix the cross with my drilling machine. Again…This is one of my favorite photosLast rope check upAnd little break before final takeCrew is testing the light setupI’ve got guns…BIG guns!This is how the action look like behind the cameraQuick pose before final take…

This time call for shootings came in short notice, topic was Mr. Putin from Russia. Iron Sky 2 got new actor from Finland Mr. Kari Ketonen. Kari Ketonen is well known Finnish actor and had made several movies and roles in TV. Kari was the ”obvious” choice to play Putin’s role because he have quite same appearance than Putin and of course he is skilled actor. Shootings were in restaurant called Saslik A Russian Restaurant in Helsinki. Interior was just like in Kremlin really nice place. We had A very fun in shootings, Kari is true professional and can improvise A lot.

Photographers point of view the place was horrible, wine red/gold walls, windows with purple glass paintings, three diffirent variations of light, tungsten, halogens and fluorescent lamps. And again the restaurant cabinet was small and full of people. Therefore there was very limited places for good pic, sometimes I was standing on the chairs and sometimes I was laying under the food tables

Ketonen was taking fast trepak dance moves and it was tricky to get sharp pics. Shutter speed is the key for sharp images, focus was also tricky because low ambient light. After all I managed to take few good pics from this shootings So here is few of them and more is coming…

Kari is changing to Mr. Putin.

Reflection.Mr. Putin is A busy man :)In meanwhile Timo and Anniina are stealing the paintings :)Putin’s office is ready.Setting up papers, sorry for my cigar smoke ;)Petri, Timo and Joye are planning the scene.Is this real one ??? Will it bite???Yep, The word is Putin.Kari improvise the scene :)And training paper cutting… :)Petri have the official cinemaphotographist chair :)And here we go!Kari is learned to levitate.And keeping up…For endlessly…Taste my boot!!!Will he become ancient reptilian…?Putin have some paper work to do. Oh and sorry for my cigar again… :)Kari is checking the results.Holy Crap!!! The lamp went broken, but no problem janitor Timo Vuorensola will fix the problem :)Final checking.Thank you, thats all folks :)

Two days after crowdfunding promo shootings was Helsinki Night Visions Film Festival. This was the place to show The Iron Sky The Coming Race Official Teaser Trailer 1. This teaser was shown to little special group of people, mainly Nordic movie makers. It was awesome and can’t wait until 2016

Night Visions Film Festival is the biggest and the oldest festival in Finland to focus on horror, fantasy, science fiction and action cinema. The festival is arranged twice a year in the heart of the city of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The Spring edition takes place in April and the Fall edition around the Halloween celebrations in October/November. The annual lineup of the festival consists of a total of roughly 60-65 feature films. It was really nice to see that there are so many new horror, fantasy, science fiction and action movies coming in near future.

Here are few pics of Night Visions presentations and of course first pic of new Iron Sky Teaser

Give me the earth.Presentation about Dead Snow 2.I think that the Dead Snow 2 will great, must see…Interviewing about Dead Snow 2.Finally…It’s…Time to…See the Iron Sky The Coming Race Official Teaser. BOOM!!!Few comments about fresh trailer.Superb!

Once again, I did not know where I was going to. Finally I found myself in a big chroma studio in eastern Helsinki. The story of this time was to shoot one promo video for upcoming crowdfunding campaign. When I arrived to studio staff was building up the props and lightning for this scene. I specially admired the people who build up the light setup for this scene but of course the props where specially made and hand crafted. But yes I’m photographer and I like different variations of light.

This time I was surprised how long it takes to shoot one scene for short promo video, all the preparations, practices, makeup… So what it would be when the real shootings starts in next spring? I guess long days and A lot of coffee The best thing when you are documenting this movie is to learn new things about making of movie documentary. Now we where in big chroma studio, but places and angles for good pic where limited. For example when you think that you have found A good place to take pic, then you found that there is sound boom above you. No pics from that place, because your shutter noise may interrupt the scene, yep avoid mics. Second thing is the direction of studio lightning. When building lightning setup for the scene, it is of course builded up correctly to movie camera direction. The best camera angle is the same place than movie camera, but 90% chance there is no room for you. So you must constantly fight against light, common light to you is the backlight.

I cannot tell nothing about the promo video content, until it has released. I will put new images after it has published, there where a LOT of good pics about making of this video
So here you are enjoy and wait until you see this video and new images with revealing pics of actor…

Timo And Petri are planning the scene.Crew is building the props.What would be the target…All of you are my target!!!Ok I’m not just take pics, I was also carpenter :)Best selfie so far in Iron Sky shootings :DNew poster arrived in middle of shootings.Phone call from Germany special fx unit…It’s for you Petri, you can tell the specs to Germany.Smoke on…Thumbs up, camera ready…Let’s begin… And the result and more after the teaser is released… :)

For first I would like to thank my new partner SC5 who made this new good looking blog and supports my Iron Sky documentary project. So in Finnish KIITOS For second, from this on the blog will be in english language. I apologise a little bit my poor written english, but hope that you understand something of it

This time I woke up in 0440 like earlier times, but this time it not felt so bad. I quess that eventually humans can learn to wake up early in the mornings. This time I took cheap bus to Helsinki only 12€, so it is way cheaper than use you own car.

Todays word was FANS! Iron Sky took a bold step and handled the first version of the script to fans who have supported this movie. Few fans were selected from huge amount of them and they got invitation to this script meeting. This is a completely new and fresh way to do film script. So the fans got the script beforehand and they had opportunity to make their own notes and suggests to script. The goal was to get extra tips and hints from ”outside” of the crew. I quess that if you read your own text long enough, you can get blind with your own text and of course fans have plenty new ideas. Five fans were invited to this meeting, but three of them had majority of obstacles and they could not come. These two fans where from Russia and US, one of them had quite long trip to this meeting. That you can say is a true dedicated fan, I will lift up my hat for him There where a lot of good ideas from these two fans and I believe that some of them will end up in to the movie. My opinion for this kind of method is that, other movie makers should learn from this. I think in the future fans will have more and more important role when producing movies. The economical times are so hard that you must learn new ways to produce and fund movies. Don’t underestimate the huge resources what your fans can give you. So watch and learn…

From a photographers point of view this meeting was challenging. You never know beforehand what kind of place you are going to. This time the space where quite small cabinet and had really difficult lightning, natural light and two type of lamps (luckily I do black and white documentary). I used my Olympus Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 PRO lens, which was suitable for this space. One challenge was my movement, there where almost impossible to move so that you don’t disturb anyone. Hope that me and my camera didn’t irritated anybody One good thing in Olympus OM-D EM-1 had, is turning display so you can get the angles which you don’t get with traditional viewfinder. This was quite handy in place like this. So here you are, few pics from the script meeting Next time we will be in green screen shootings and there gonna be some action.

Take care and see you…

-T

Ps. I’v got messages from you, that why this blog is only in Finnish language. Well… Perhaps small country… And small village where I live. Go to Google maps and check LAUKAA FINLAND. I will translate two earlier parts to english very soon…

Girls are sorting the fresh scripts to meeting.Table full of ideas.Page one, long way to go…He was from russia and had plenty of good ideas.Timo emphatizes the script.He was from US and had good knowledge about geology. So he had good visions about prehistoric times and how hollow earth should look like.Timos new pet Looks so sad… Maybe Timo has forget to feed him.Tero found something interesting from his notebook.So the Dinos should be about this size, at least…Yes that’s the point.There where lot of good conversations.Tero is explaining some of his ideas.Brainstorming…Timo and Jarmo found something.Something funny…Yes, something real funny :DAt the end this meeting was full of good ideas and these fans can give so much to new Iron Sky.

Behind the camera

Behind this blog is Finnish photographer and a great friend of sci-fi, who was given a great opportunity to document this upcoming movie Iron Sky sequel, Called Iron Sky, The Coming Race. I am a full-time professional photographer and I own a small studio in central Finland Laukaa. I take pics from little childrens to big war machines, and almost everything in between them. This documentary project is going to be a really interesting one. My purpose is to document this movie when something interesting / bigger happens in film, or something that Iron Sky wants to be photographed. The project will take about two years, and the movie will be scheduled to come cinemas in 2016.

Anyone who has spent their childhood in 80’s will remember the time, when computers arrived to families, and absolutely brilliant sci-fi movies. In 80’s time went with Commodore 64, and later on Amiga 500, which deposed that great Commondore 64. We all remember (or at least those of you who will follow this blog) the legendary games such as Ultimas, Space Rogue, Carrier Command, Midwinter, Elite, Dungeon Master, AD & D series, I can go on with this list for a long… And the board games themselves, I would like to raise up the Space Crusade from 90’s which I play today a few times per year with old my colleagues. There are small changes from 90’s. In 90’s Coca-Cola was official game drink, now Cola has been changed to high-quality whiskey.

Then the 80’s golden classic movies, The Last Starfighter, Goonies, Star Wars, Aliens, ET, The Abyss, Star Trek, Terminator, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, The Thing, Spaceballs. This game / movie list is the reason why I want to document this movie. As I listed above It reveals that I’m old-fashioned sci-fi nerd, and I have had fortunate that I can document this new Iron Sky movie. I think and I bet also that the makers of Iron Sky are also pretty much the same mental and they have also been influenced by those goldies of that period. Therefore it is nice to do this work with them

The first stage the storyboarding, Iron Sky Universe office.

Jyväskylä at 5:30, breakfast, large cup of coffee and little snacks. On the way to storyboard meeting I was thinking what kind of people are these makers of Iron Sky, because I had not met them before. I was also thinking how to work with the staff meeting, what kind of distances you keep to them when take pics, to not interfere with their work? Each documentary case has a different way to work, a lot of this depends on the type of documentary you are going to do. This type of documentary like Iron Sky, the best way to take pics is to keep distance and stay out of sight. This is basic rule to me in documentary filming, to stay out of the way, and be as “invisible” you can. Each documentaries have they own “thing”, which tells the viewer clearly what is being done. It is also important to capture situation “atmosphere”. Every photographer has they own style to do documentary pics. And this is my way…

I walk along the “Freda” to the Iron Sky Universe offices, as Hesalaiset says about Frederick street. I have to admit that I was a little bit nervous in every foot step that I take towards Iron Sky Universe offices. Even I have seen a lot of different places and situations with my camera. When I finally arrived to the office Anniina was greeting me and she had made good cup of ”mud coffee” (Sonera’s term for a cup of coffee from my previous work). In fact, the coffee which Anniina made was excellent, the beans were milled on in office. In my studio I used to drink fast and cheap Pirkka ”kura=mud” coffee I took coffee with me and went to meeting room to wait the start of a meeting. I was alone in meeting room waiting for others to arrive. I began to explore my camera equipments while waiting and getting ready for first shooting. The first who arrived was storyboard artist Anssi Rauhala. We discussed with Anssi about this project and found there is something else common interest, airplanes and flying. Then came the movie cinematographer Mika Orasmaa and director Timo Vuorensola. Right from the start the atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable, so now I was able to relax a little bit.

A storyboard is a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture. Storyboard is like a little drawn comic book about happenings of the movie. Storyboard artist role is to listen discussions between director and cinematographer and draw their visions to into various small boxes into blank paper. This was really interesting to watch all the expressions, feelings and visions between director and cinematographer. Let the Pictures speak for themselves, see you next time…

-T

Timo is trying some sign language.Whats happening in my screen…?Hmmm… Earth or moon?Earth absolutely in earth… Mika is planning some camera angles.Anssi is sketching Timos and Mikas visions.Anssi has drawn first scenes of the movie.Mika visualizes camera angles.And Anssi draw them into paper.It should go like this…Sometimes it was quite precise work.Timo and positive feelings.Everybody are thinking together and solving some problems.Mister Orasmaa is getting to absorbed in.Think think think…Haa!!! Casting Icestorm spell, or just visualize?And here are the results from this storyboard meeting… :)